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Topic: False neutrals (Read 1759 times)

Anyone else have a LOT of false neutrals with these bikes? My C5 with nearly 300 miles really likes neutral, so much so that I can sometimes kick the shifter up 4 or 5 times and it refuses to go into gear. Sometimes when I am in gear it just drops down into neutral. When I can't get it into a higher gear I have to gear down and sometimes it takes a couple stabs and I go down two gears. Please tell me this goes away with increased mileage!!! I'm doing my first service today and I'm hoping that helps. I'm an experienced rider and my shifts are deliberate (purposeful?), I get the occasional false neutral when I get lazy on other bikes occasionaly but nothing like this. And it's getting worse with increasing mileage and emits no unusual sounds. Any ideas? TIA

No advice here, but to say that I have a B5 (2011 - same engine, yah?) with 270 miles - no false neutrals, or any other shifting trouble at all, except for a good solid clunk into first gear (kinda like my old BMW, which did have false neutrals, by the way). I think mine's idling high.

Clutch cable is the first thing I would check - thanks to the previous actually helpful replies! Good luck!

There's been quite a few threads about shifting and most everyone has been able to get it sorted. Some have had good luck with clutch cable adjustment, some have changed shifting technique, and others just had the problem go away on it's own only to reappear when they changed shoes.

I had better luck letting the clutch out with the lever still in the shift position. In other words pull clutch, pull up on shift lever and keep it up, release clutch then allow shift lever to return. On downshift I make sure that I close the throttle before pulling the clutch. Pre-loading shifts don't work with my bike at all for down shifting but work great for shifting up. I pull pressure on the shift lever and then instead of pulling the clutch all the way I just pull the clutch until the gear clicks in.

There also was a thread about excessive in and out play on the shift lever where it comes out of the case causing vague feeling shifts, that's something else to check for.

Do a search for missed shifts or false neutrals and there's alot of other suggestions. I'm sure you'll find what works best for you in the next 2-300 miles. After 1000 miles you'll probably never miss a shift again. I was ready to pull my hair out at first but I haven't missed a shift in the last 5000 miles.

I'll occasionally get false neutrals on my B5. It usually happens when I'm doing some sloppy shifting- releasing the clutch too soon or not applying enough pressure to the shifter. I haven't found it to get any better as miles accumulate, but it certainly gets better when I'm more deliberate in my gears.

Set the play at the clutch lever to 2mm, shift slowly but deliberately, and by the time your have a couple of oil changes under your belt, the false neutrals will disappear. These are not unusual during the breaking in period.

For whatever it's worth: I have a 2010 Bullet with about 800 miles on it. I don't have any trouble finding neutral when up shifting fom 1st, but I'm having all the other issues reported, including:

- bike falls out of 5th or 4th into a false neutral and has to be kicked into gear again

- when downshifting, bike gets stuck in 3rd, I have to rev once to be able to kick it into 2nd, and again to get it into 1st

- when downshifting, I end up in a false neutral

These are all intermittent and don't interfere with my riding. I never have the sense that it'll fall out of gear and I won't be able to get it back in.

At the 600 mile service my dealer said this wasn't normal and offered to take the trans apart as a warranty service and see what's wrong. But based on what I read this may be typical. I'm going to keep riding to 1200 mi or so and see if it evens out. Deliberate shifting definitely helps.

Ive had my fair-share of false Neutrals when my C5's mileage was around 600 miles or so, Now I'm at 2600 Miles and the false neutrals are a thing of the past, Its just a matter of running in the bike and putting on the miles, like a fine wine, she just gets better with age. ( and use )

Make sure the clutch cable freeplay is 2mm. Make sure the shift lever is adjusted so that it's comfortable for you. Good synthetic oil like Mobil 1 4T can help but mostly you just need more miles on the bike. The bike gets better as it breaks in and you get used to its rythyms.

Footwear also has a large impact on successful shifting. I started having false neutrals when wearing heavy boots. Required some adjusting from my part, now false neutrals only occur when being sloppy. Otherwise shifting is smooth, including fast shifts.With ordinary footwear the length of the shifter is just fine.